Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Rituals for Sukkot


There are the usual rituals for sukkot of shaking the lulav and the etrog in the four directions (sometimes to a tune) and eating in the sukkot. Was wondering if anyone has any adapted rituals for these that work well in one's home (especially if you don't have access to a sukkot, lulav or etrog) or has any other interesting rituals they perform for sukkot. I did learn a nice tune to use when shaking the lulav and when I tried to track down its origins, found out it may be related to the nusach for Purim. There are some examples of nusach melodies (including musical notes) for different holidays online in the Jewish Encyclopedia. (Am very interested in music, especially public domain music, and using it with rituals.)


The four directions in the lulav and etrog ritual remind me of the four directions in various wiccan rituals. I've also been trying to dig up a copy of the information about four angels and the four directions. Found some public domain (pre-1923) references to that prayer which is said 3 times before bed. Was also researching if there was a good correlation between any 4 of the sephirot and the four directions. Still digging on that one. Not only is sukkot a nice harvest festival that can help us connect with nature, the use of the four directions seems like it could give a lot of meaning to a ritual for the event.

Hope to hear some ideas for at home rituals from others. Thanks.

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